Starting Friday, New Yorkers who receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a city-run site will be given $100 — the latest desperate measure in City Hall’s ramped-up effort to get more residents inoculated as a highly contagious coronavirus variant spreads, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
“It does not get better than that,” de Blasio said during his daily remote press briefing of the $100 reward for agreeing to a jab.
“Incentives help immensely,” the mayor said. “I think it’s going to be very, very appealing to New Yorkers.”
De Blasio predicted the chance to pocket a Benjamin will “move a lot of people” to get vaccinated.
“I personally believe the guarantee that, right then and there, you’re going to be rewarded, I think that’s going to make a big difference to people,” the mayor said.
The money will come in the form of a $100 prepaid debit card that city residents and workers can receive while waiting during the post-vaccine observation period or via mail, said Rachel Loeb, head of the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
The announcement comes after de Blasio responded on Monday to mounting concerns about the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 — and low vaccination rates in some city agencies — by mandating that all city workers receive a shot or get tested for the bug weekly. In addition, unvaccinated municipal employees will soon be required to wear a mask in their workplaces, de Blasio said Monday.
On Tuesday, the fed-up mayor proclaimed that the “voluntary phase is over” on vaccinations, and that City Hall is “climbing the ladder” toward mandatory jabs for city workers.